When I play Master of Orion, I'm hearkened back to the time when I first started playing the game. I remember the early commercials for those first Microprose games, X-Com, Master of Orion, and I played them religiously. These games are amazing in their conception, as well as execution.
You are a civilization at the outset of galactic exploration. Depending on the civilization that you picked, you may have a few advantages or disadvantages. Give yourself a challenge, or make a choice that will more quickly advance your empire.
You are also given a few ships and a few units of population to start with. Run the year to year affairs of specialized production: Ship building, Planetary Defense spending, Industrial Investment Expenditure, Ecological spending, and Research.
The objective of the game is to gain control of the galaxy, by achieving a two-thirds majority vote of the galactic counsel, or by eradicating all other races. On your way you will encounter two to six other races, which will be vying for dominance.
In your travels, you may encounter 'The Guardian,' who will be ready to stop you from reaching Orion. Defeat this creature to find the technology of the former inhabitants of Orion, as well as the first crack at getting to colonize this
sweet planet.
The game play was marvelous, and having had a few years since I last played it, I gained some perspective as to how to manage my empire. Research spending is again divided up into six different areas of development. Gains in technology will allow you to colonize a wider variety of worlds, create better ships, revolutionize your industry, improve the ground combat rolls for your troops, and get places faster and a multitude of other possible benefits.
If you failed to blitz the galaxy in one sitting, you can save it and come back another day. The end game is definitely long, but you get a real sense of accomplishment upon winning a game by election or annihilation. I’ve found myself playing a few games to completion. I do believe I will return to this game, as I always do, but I am definitely ready to get started on the next leg of my video game journey.
The graphics were kind of a bummer, but that's never why I play dos games in the first place. The other games were definitely better for graphics, but they deviated from the purity of the first game definitely. A classic by any definition, especially mine.
